Letters To The Editor

November 21, 1999

Split NASA in two

In your Nov. 10 editorial "NASA's future," the writer suggested that one solution to the aeronautics budget problem might be to separate aeronautics research from NASA. In my opinion, this is the only way to ensure this country's aeronautical leadership in the future.

NASA was formed in 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency which provided aeronautical research for both military and civil applications for many years with a very low budget.

A return to an NACA-type agency to conduct vital aeronautics research with the facilities at Langley, Lewis (Cleveland), Ames (Mountain View, Calif.) and Dryden (Edwards, Calif.) would breathe new life into aeronautics.

NASA has gone the way of most aging agencies. It has become a very mature bureaucracy, spending most of its manpower justifying its existence from year to year.

It has become accustomed to very large budgets and without money to spend, many of its employees have nothing to do.

Its management has taken on the classic "all chiefs and no Indians" character.

Most NASA managers have developed the attitude that spending large amounts of money is somehow productive.

In years past, NACA measured success by the number of research reports published for use by the aeronautics industry. Today, NASA measures success by the level of the budget approved for next year.

It is a sad day, but I think the only way to solve the long-term problem is to take the aging NASA "horse" out behind the barn and shoot it.

Then, perhaps the formation of new, separate agencies for aeronautics research and space endeavors would result in trimming the fat from both and preserving those elements that are vital to this country.

Joe D. Watts

Mathews

Positive Learning

This is in reply to the Nov. 8 letter "Public vs. parochial." There seems to be a problem in this country with children and gun violence. The only answer to solve this problem is not the church or the establishment of more parochial schools.

We must work together and try to help teach our future generations about the dangers of violence. Paying a fortune to send our children to private "church-type" schools is not going to steer them in the right path.

There is a reason that the country has outlawed prayer in school in many states. Not everyone in this country is a believer in God and therefore should not have to be subjected to something they do not believe in.

Positive learning starts at the home. Parents should be involved in the lives of their children, along with maintaining a stable home environment.

People have placed blame on the movies and TV shows, but those are not what are causing children to become violent.

Church schools do a wonderful job in educating students, but they do not really represent the essence of society.

The reality is that certain segments of our society not only tolerate violence, but also promote it.

Erin Fox

Yorktown

Spinal manipulation

The Nov. 4 article "Study: Osteopaths, MDs both treat backaches well" had several glaring faults. The study did not support the authors' hypothesis that osteopathic manipulation is more effective than traditional medical care; it lacked a control group and it glaringly overlooked the chiropractic profession's leading role in effective treatment of spinal problems including low back pain.

The hypothesis behind this New England Journal of Medicine study was: "Osteopathic manipulation would result in more rapid relief than that obtained with standard medical care."

The study did not support the hypothesis. The headline in the Daily Press would have been more accurate if it had read: "Study: Osteopaths, MDs both treat backaches with mixed results," or, "Study: Osteopaths do no better than MDs for backaches."

The next major error was the lack of a control group. How do osteopaths and MDs compare to placebo treatment for back pain? How might they fare against the experts on spinal manipulation, that is, doctors of chiropractic?

Many osteopathic doctors are exceptional. An osteopath delivered my sister, and the president of the Virginia Board of Medicine is an osteopathic doctor.

Unfortunately osteopathic manipulation is not a thriving art, and doctors of chiropractic do 94 percent of spinal manipulation in North America.

As Western medicine embraces what we do best, I suggest leaving spinal manipulation to those who specialize in it: Doctors of chiropractic.

Daniel A. Shaye-Pickell

Eastern Virginia representative

Virginia Chiropractic Association

Fix flooding mess

The recent election came right on top recent storm floods. There is a relationship. Newly elected officials need to deal with the ongoing problem of massive flooding.

A recent court decision has opened the door for developers to invade and obliterate our non-tidal wetlands.

The developers who take over these areas make a neat one-time profit, but home and business owners lose repeatedly and massively when they are flooded because we have lost our natural drainage system.

As more of these wetlands are lost, floods will expand to wider areas and stay longer with corresponding greater misery and loss of homes and businesses.

Do our city planners intend to balance the one-time gains of developers against the financial and personal losses to home and business owners when major floods inevitably invade the community?